Ex-pat Russian rocker laments canceled Ukraine concerts

Musician, now an Escondido resident, was part of first rock band in Soviet Union

Guitarist and singer Valery Saifudinov grew up in the Soviet Union and has a recording studio in Escondido. He is credited with having what's believed to be the first rock and roll band in the Soviet Union, and he'll be among the people featured in a documentary called Rocking the Kremlin. Photo by Don Boomer
— Don Boomer

Guitarist and singer Valery Saifudinov grew up in the Soviet Union and has a recording studio in Escondido. He is credited with having what's believed to be the first rock and roll band in the Soviet Union, and he'll be among the people featured in a documentary called Rocking the Kremlin. Photo by Don Boomer
— Don Boomer

Soviet authorities tried to stifle influences from the West, and Saifudinov said he was arrested many times, and a KGB file on him began to grow. Authorities cracked down on him more in the 1970s when they mistook his band Natural Product for an underground, anti-communist organization after fans began writing the group’s name on walls.

Saifudinov moved to the United States in 1975 after being threaten with exile from Riga.

He performed on the “Midnight Special,” a late-night TV show that featured rock performances, as part of Sasha and Yuri, the first Soviet band to play in the United States and also toured as an opening act for the Band. Newsman Walter Cronkite reported on the band, but Sasha and Yuri didn’t catch on with audiences, and the group disbanded. Saifudinov, who became an American citizen in 1982, shifted his attention to running studios.

Watching events in Russia today, Saifudinov said he is uncertain what to think about the situation in Crimea.

“Right now, I want to dig up facts before making a final decision,” he said. “I kind of feel for Ukrainians, and at the same time I don’t know what to say about the Russians in Crimea. Crimea was always a Russian territory.

“I wish it could be worked out more with diplomacy, that Americans and Russians and Ukranians and the European Union could sit down and work it out,” he said.

A CD release party for Elektrik Tank and fellow PSB recording artists Binkley and Mark Hart of Crowded House is planned for May 6 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.